The University of Texas at Austin Athletics
University of Texas
Big 12 Championships
No. 3 Men's Swimming and Diving stretches lead at Big 12 Championships
02.24.2017 | Men's Swimming and Diving
Longhorns claim six of seven events, aim toward 21st Big 12 team title.
Complete Results | Photo Gallery
AUSTIN, Texas – No. 3 Texas captured six of seven events and remained in control of the team standings Friday evening at the 2017 Big 12 Championships.
The night's first race featured the Olympic gold medalist in the 100m butterfly and one of America's top butterfly swimmers in Texas senior Jack Conger. Schooling edged Conger for the win in 44.06, just .05 off of his NCAA record and good for the third-fastest swim of all-time. Conger took a close second at 44.56 while junior Brett Ringgold took third at 46.32. Senior Will Glass placed fourth at 46.51 while sophomore Max Holter took fifth at 46.86.
Junior Jonathan Roberts posted a lifetime best and an NCAA automatic-qualifying cut in the 400 IM, as he won his second straight Big 12 title in the event at 3:40.26. Former NCAA champion Will Licon took second at 3:43.85 while sophomore Sam Stewart placed third at 3:44.49.
The 200 freestyle featured the event's American record holder and defending NCAA champion Townley Haas, who placed fifth in the same event at the Rio Olympic Games. Haas logged an NCAA automatic-qualifying cut of 1:32.17 for the win while his fellow sophomore from Virginia, Jeff Newkirk, finished as the runner-up in 1:34.02. All-America senior Clark Smith, an Olympics teammate of Haas, took third at 1:34.22 while senior P.J. Dunne took fourth at 1:34.64.
Sophomore John Shebat captured his first individual conference title in the 100 backstroke and took the win at 45.72 in a one-two Texas finish. Freshman and Austin native Josh Artmann took second at 47.37.
Freshman Grayson Campbell captured his first career Big 12 championship and won with room to spare on three-meter with 451.85 points. All-America senior Mark Anderson, Wednesday's champion on one-meter, finished as the runner-up with 401.75 points.
Texas wrapped up the third night of the championships with an NCAA automatic-qualifying cut in the 200 freestyle relay, where sophomore Tate Jackson joined Shebat, junior Brett Ringgold and Haas to finish in 1:17.10.
Sophomore Casey Melzer added a runner-up finish in the 100 breaststroke (53.67) while junior Austin Temple took third (53.97).
Texas leads the Big 12 Championships with 748 points while West Virginia holds second with 566 points. TCU sits in third with 442 points.
The fourth and final day of the Big 12 Championships begins Saturday with preliminaries at 10 a.m. CT.
